Death and the Flesh: A Mental Health Nurse’s Interpretation of the Film Departures

This paper was originally written for a hermeneutic research course where I interpreted Yojiro Takita’s (2008) film Departures. I outline an interpretation of death that I came to after viewing the film, discussing death as a form of “unsettling.” Death unsettles by revealing life’s impermanence which is often concealed in everyday life. We may be reminded of it through the death of another. As per Heidegger, when we are perturbed by life’s finitude, we may be driven to action. Subsequently, death discloses life’s grotesqueness. Hidden within the vitality of life is the inevitable decay of the flesh. For some, this may trigger a sense of disgust. As people who work closely with death, nurses learn ways to manage their disgust. However, this experience may not apply to mental health nurses. I end this paper by reflecting on my own experience as a mental nurse, questioning if my choice of specialty is perhaps related to the avoidance of death and the flesh. Keywords: death, hermeneutics, interpretation, film, mental health nursing, existential, disgust